The ethical challenges of Machine Interpreting

Machine interpreting (MI), like any emerging technology, presents a range of ethical challenges that require careful consideration and governance. As a tool designed to enhance communication and understanding across language barriers, it has the potential to significantly and positively impact various areas of human life, contributing to easy and affordable accessibility and inclusiveness. However, its … Read more

Defining Machine Interpreting

Automated spoken language translation is advancing quickly. This technology has various applications and use cases, each with subtle differences that can overwhelm many people. Despite this, understanding these nuances is crucial. That’s why I spent a significant part of my recent workshop “The State of Machine Interpretation” at GALA defining what Machine Interpreting is. In … Read more

Empowering Autonomous Learning Through AI

I recently developed a tool that gave birth to the first interpreting lesson entirely generated by Artificial Intelligence. The material (example available here) showcases the potential of Generative AI to transform teaching methods across various subjects, placing students at the heart of the learning experience by making them more autonomous. The dream of shifting the … Read more

Having a professor at your fingertips? Is it possible?

I couldn’t resist the temptation and created a digital clone of myself, or more precisely, of the knowledge from my publications on #interpreting and #technology. Now, people can engage in natural language conversations with this virtual counterpart, asking questions about the few topics where I possess some expertise. From what I can discern, as the … Read more

Visual Cues as Comprehension Aids: the missing Link in Machine Interpreting

Most of the time live communication takes place using both verbal and non-verbal means which are adjusted to the situational needs and communicative objectives of the interlocutors. This obviously plays a crucial role also in multilingual communication and in machine interpretation. For example, typical verbal means can be the so-called topicalization, i.e. positioning the most … Read more

Machine Interpreting and Translation Universals

Today, we’ve made generally available the integration of a Large Language Model (LLM) into KUDO AI Simultaneous Speech Translator. To the best of my knowledge, this marks the first instance of Generative AI being incorporated into a real-life speech translation system. When I began experimenting with LLMs in speech translation, I was immediately struck by … Read more

Situational Awareness in Machine Interpreting

Situational Awareness

Machine Interpreting, a subset of spoken language translation, is undergoing rapid advancements. The recent strides in this domain are particularly evident in the development of robust end-to-end systems. These systems utilize a singular language model to directly translate spoken content from one language to another. As impressive as this technology is, it currently finds its … Read more

New Chapter: Towards AI-enhanced computer-assisted interpreting

I am thrilled to announce my chapter for an upcoming publication on Interpreting and Technology. The chapter titled “Towards AI-enhanced computer-assisted interpreting” delves into the evolution of digital tools for interpreters and the rising influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on Computer-Assisted Interpreting (CAI). As a researcher and practitioner in the field, I have spent the … Read more

My talk at AIIC 70th anniversary

Claudio Fantinuoli talking online at AIIC conference

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of presenting in Brussels a talk titled “AI, Interpretation, and the Dynamics of Change” on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the AIIC – The International Association of Conference Interpreters. Here are some highlights from my discussion: 👉 We’re witnessing remarkable progress in AI’s proficiency in spoken language … Read more